Blackhawks Must Avoid Dazzling Themselves With Own Offensive Flash

CALGARY — People in the this wild west town go around wearing big-brimmed hats. It's Darryl Sutter's job to make sure his Blackhawks don't let their heads expand to fit them.

The Hawks have been positively scintillating since their opening snoozer in Detroit. But their record, Sutter points out, is only 4-3 going into their game Friday night against the Calgary Flames.

"My job is to get better every day," Sutter says. "If we're satisfied being one game over .500, then we're not going to be much better than that, and we'll probably be .500 again by tomorrow night. We're sitting here in the middle of the pack.

"We don't have time to be inconsistent, and the key to consistency is to stay respectful. The only problem you're going to have with this team is they know they have a lot of flash and dash. The key is that they maintain their pride in the defensive part of the game."

Sutter says keeping his players' heads in the right place is his "only responsibility."

"Coaches don't score goals, but they can help prevent goals," he said. "They know they're a good team, where before they had to clutch and grab and slug it out every night to win."

After Thursday night's 7-0 thrashing of the Edmonton Oilers, the Hawks' Joe Murphy led the league in goals with eight and scoring with 11 points, one ahead of Calgary's Phil Housley, Quebec's Joe Sakic and St. Louis' Esa Tikkanen. No team had scored more than the Blackhawks' 27 goals.

Shantz happening: Jeff Shantz, out three games with a shoulder injury, will return Friday night. After a Thursday afternoon practice, Sutter said, "I just asked him and he said he's ready. He'll play; it's just a matter of who doesn't play."

Calling Dr. Belfour: Goalie Ed Belfour will not be suspended for trying to surgically remove Dean McAmmond's appendix with his goalie's stick Wednesday night in Edmonton. A National Hockey League spokesman said the league would not review the incident that occurred in the first period with the Hawks leading 4-0.

Sutter said he wasn't surprised that the Oilers had not sent in film of the incident.

"It would be an eye for an eye," he said. "If they want to send in Belfour, we'll send in (Kirk) Maltby. I don't think anybody wants to lose a player, especially when there was no injury."

Maltby slashed Hawk defenseman Chris Chelios on the knee in the third period.

"They've lost five straight and they're frustrated," Chelios said. "They're just young kids and they're showing some emotion, that's all."

Belfour received a five-minute penalty, for high sticking of all things, after bashing McAmmond in the stomach. Belfour said later he was retaliating after being run over by an Oiler he mistakenly thought was McAmmond. It was Louie DeBrusk. But Sutter noted that McAmmond had opened up a 15-stitch cut in Roger Johansson's lower lip just before Belfour unloaded.

Unkindest cut: Defenseman Eric Weinrich doesn't want to believe that his skate later slashed through McAmmond's achilles tendon right through to the bone, ending the former Blackhawk forward's season.

"Who knows what will happen with Dean McAmmond, whether he'll ever be able to play this game again?" Weinrich said. "You've got that in the back of your mind. He's young and maybe he's got better recuperative powers than an older player would. I hope he can recover and play again."

McAmmond, who is awaiting surgery, demonstrated a sense of humor when he quipped, "I'm going to get him to work on my hands, too."